


What Comes Next

by eadreytheiptscray



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: (Because our heroes deserve it), Acephobia, Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, Canon Compliant, Coming Out, Eventual QPR if you squint, F/M, Implied Mako Mori/Chuck Hansen, Original Character(s), POV Mako Mori, Past Mako Mori/Original Male Character, THERE'S HURT, There's comfort, and everything in between, but this story has a happy ending, some creative liberties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 17:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20643305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eadreytheiptscray/pseuds/eadreytheiptscray
Summary: The Drift brings out a person's true character, as Mako Mori finds out the hard way. It takes five tries before she finally finds someone who gets her.





	1. June 2019 - Hong Kong Shatterdome

"Good, Mako. Now, what comes next?"

Mako closed her eyes, concentrating. Knowing all 52 moves of jaeger bushido was one thing. Sparring with them was quite another. Sensei patiently waited, frozen in position with his hanbō extended, while Mako considered her next move.

_Which would best block—? Oh, right._ She evaded and counterattacked, and Sensei muttered his approval.

"Getting a head start on Ranger training, are we?" Ranger Herc Hansen smirked as he sauntered into the Kwoon, stopping just inches from the mat out of respect for the two sparring there. "I thought you weren't enlisting for another two years, Mako."

"It never hurts to be prepared," Sensei said, motioning for Mako's hanbō. With his back to the deputy marshal, he could give her a proud smile. That look he reserved only for moments like this, when no subordinates could see.

"Wish Chuck would learn from the best," Ranger Hansen grumbled. "Maybe you can smack some sense into him, eh, Mako?"

She didn't try to hide her smirk. Neither did Ranger Hansen.

_Speaking of Chuck…_ She caught Sensei's eye. "Permission to be dismissed, sir?"

Sensei nodded. "Permission granted."

* * *

Mako stepped off the hangar's repair elevator and found Chuck just where she thought he'd be: at eye-level with his favorite jaeger. She joined him in dangling her legs over the edge and leaning against the railing. Except for a quick glance her way when she sat next to him, Chuck didn't take his eyes off Lady Danger.

"Was wondering when I'd see you around, Mori," he said. "What've you been up to?"

"Sitting in on debriefings. Shadowing J-Techs. Sparring with Sensei."

Chuck shook his head, but Mako noticed his lip twitched. Her heart warmed knowing he reserved that half-smile just for her.

"Not surprised. Learn anything new?"

"I showed you the Shibata block, right? Then no. Today we just practiced the positions. I want to master jaeger bushido before I enlist." She stole a glance at him before adding, "Your dad wants you to learn from Sensei."

Chuck huffed. "'Course he does. It's not like my old man would teach me himself. Besides..." His genuine smile widened into an impish grin Mako recognized. And loathed.

_Here it comes._

"I'd rather have a pretty girl teach me all 52 positions, if you know what I mean."

"Shut up." Mako rolled her eyes and ignored the gnawing sensation in her stomach. "Can't we have just one conversation without any innuendos?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

_Because it's not actually funny._ Mako knew to keep that thought to herself. She didn't feel like arguing with her crush, not since they only had a few days left at the same Shatterdome together.

Dirty jokes weren't new to Chuck. Or Mako, for that matter. Hopping around from Shatterdome to Shatterdome, they'd both heard plenty from the jaeger pilots, K-Scientists, and J-Techs. Sasha Kaidonovsky had even taught Mako a few Russian phrases that made Aleksis flush as red as his wife's lipstick.

Innuendo was the universal language, but just because Mako could speak it didn't mean she understood it. What was so great about sex, anyway?

She'd voiced that thought to Tamsin Sevier once. Tam had told her she was just more mature than girls her age. And Sensei, well… he was the one who told her to go talk to his former co-pilot.

_Maybe Tam's right, and I do take life too seriously,_ Mako thought. _But I've got more important things to think about. I need to train hard so I can be a pilot. Everything else is just a distraction._

A small voice in her head said there was a reason she was different, but that thought got lost in the roar of Jumphawks and the Dome's rusty motors. Lady Danger and Lucky Seven were returning home.

Soon, Chuck would be joining them.

"I should keep training," Mako called over the din. "I need a sparring partner—want to join me?"

When Chuck nodded, Mako jumped to her feet and offered him a hand up. His hand lingered in hers, and Mako's stomach dropped as if she were free-falling. She was feeling weightless more often these days.

_Well, maybe I can make room for one distraction._

They held each other's hands until they reached the Kwoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place after the Manilla fight Herc and Raleigh talked about in the movie. I took creative liberties by making the three jaegers go to the closest Shatterdome for repairs, and putting Mako and Pentecost at the same one.


	2. January 2025 - Hong Kong Shatterdome

The Sikorsky whips up rain as it touches down on the tarmac. Mako tenses, but not because of the icy water slicing across her exposed skin. On that helicopter is Lady Danger's former pilot—and Mako's potential Drift partner, if Sensei relents.

Mako had dug into every file on Raleigh Becket over the past year. Even the reports detailing his final deployment against Knifehead. After his brother had been killed in combat and he had been dismissed from the PPDC, Becket had disappeared and been thought dead—until Sensei found him working on the Alaskan Anti-Kaiju Wall.

Although he's a stranger to Mako, she knows enough of his history to know he's not suited for the mission Sensei has recruited him for.

_I have the discipline he lacks, which is why I'm the obvious choice as his co-pilot._ Mako files this point away for future discussions with Sensei.

Her adopted father steps off the helicopter first. A few seconds later, Becket follows.

Mako shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath. She'd seen enough of Becket's arrogant, insubordinate behavior in hours of Jaeger Academy and combat footage. The last thing she wants to do is watch him saunter across the tarmac wearing that smirk she'd come to hate. Even Chuck, with all his flaws, is down-to-earth by comparison.

Or maybe losing his brother sent Becket spiraling. Lesser tragedies had driven men like him to dull their pain with whatever vices they could find. Would she find bloodshot eyes staring back at her? Would he reek of whiskey or something stronger?

_Only one way to find out._

She opens her eyes to find sharp ocean-blue eyes studying her. There's no air of superiority about the man in front of her. He looks reserved and wary, like a grizzled veteran—shaggy hair, bags under his eyes, and the scruffy makings of a beard. He certainly looks older than 24.

"_I imagined him differently_," Mako mutters to Sensei. For the sake of privacy, she had switched to her native Japanese.

It hadn't worked.

"Hey." A small smile breaks through Becket's serious demeanor. "_Better or worse_?"

_Huh_. Thank goodness she isn't caught off-guard so easily. "_My apologies, Mr. Becket. I've heard so much about you_."

Becket nods his head out of what seems to be respect. But before Mako can form an opinion, Sensei takes charge of the Shatterdome tour.

Mako keeps a close eye on Becket as Sensei updates him on the state of the Jaeger Program. Nothing he does raises any red flags. And that unnerves her.

His remark to Dr. Geiszler is tame, all things considered. Any other wounded Ranger might have shoved the kaiju-loving K-Scientist into his tank of entrails. Becket, however, keeps his cool.

Walking into Hong Kong Shatterdome, he doesn't mention how much it has changed since his glory days. Although he brings up his brother twice, it's not to brag about their combat achievements.

Unpredictable. Cocky. Prone to lapses in judgement. When would Becket's hallmark traits surface? If not interacting with the Shatterdome's fixed point, then perhaps in private when seeing his old jaeger again. He couldn't hide his true self forever. Certainly not if Sensei let him and Mako Drift.

Mako had already formed an opinion about Becket from the wreckage of Lady Danger. That jaeger had become her pride and joy. She'd rebuilt her from the scrap the young pilot had dragged back to shore five years ago. Not even Tendo Choi's teasing—"oh, he's not _that_ bad, Mako"—had made her change her mind about the former pilot.

_You can tell a lot about a child by the way he treats his toys._ She's a good soldier, so she keeps that thought to herself. She's also human, so she doesn't withhold her passive-aggressive comment about her jaeger: "She's one-of-a-kind now."

But then...

"She always was."

Mako doesn't even have time to react before Tendo creeps up behind them, wrapping Becket into a bear hug. The reunion is quick, and in a few minutes she's leading Becket to his quarters. She feels his eyes on her the entire time.

Once again, the veteran pilot disarms her. "So what's your story? Restoring old jaegers, showing has-beens like me around… that can't be it. Are you a pilot?"

There's another layer of complexity to their interactions now. Would any other Ranger ask her, an officer dressed in J-Tech fatigues, about her ambitions? Is he just being nice, or is this something more?

"No, not yet." Mako hugs her tablet to her chest. If they're going to Drift together, she might as well start being candid. "But I want to be one, more than anything."

Still true, given the circumstances.

"Yeah?" He turns around, and that irritating smirk is back. "What's your simulator score?"

"Fifty-one drops, fifty-one kills." _Don't say what I think you're about—_

"That's amazing."

Mako feels her face flush. _Don't get attached again_, she reminds herself. _The less you're invested, the better. I can't fail another Drift._

"And you're not one of the candidates for tomorrow?"

And just like that, reality reasserts itself. "No," she says, glancing away. "The Marshal has his reasons."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also took some creative liberties with the age gaps. Mako and Chuck are 21 years old, and Raleigh is 24.


	3. September 2021 - Jaeger Academy

Mako got used to seeing “exemplary” on all her officer training coursework. It was validating to know her hard work was paying off. The first trimester of the Jaeger Academy had been tough, but she'd soldiered through, as expected of the daughter of Stacker Pentecost.

Her sparring sessions with Sensei also paid off. She was one of the top students in her recruiting class, showing "remarkable" aptitude for bō staff combat. Although she'd mastered all 52 moves of jaeger bushido before enlisting, she spent most of her free time in the Kwoon honing her skills.

So did a couple of other recruits.

Itsuki Sasaki was a regular in the Kwoon—a good fighter, too. Since his and Mako's recruiting class had been so big, they hadn't had a chance to get to know each other. That all changed as they started sparring.

From the get-go, they'd been evenly matched. Any matches that didn't end because of time constraints usually ended three points to four. Both fierce competitors, they chose each other as sparring partners in class whenever they could. Once they started studying together, they became inseparable.

Talking to Itsuki was easy. He and Mako bonded over their Japanese heritage, their love of anime and pop music, and their eagerness to make a difference fighting in a seemingly unwinnable war.

Sparring with him, though, was even more fun. They practically danced around each other on the mat, trading physical jabs and verbal parries. Unlike Mako, Itsuki was more offensive than defensive, so she enjoyed blindsiding him with a teasing tap to the ribs or by knocking him off his feet.

"Next time," Itsuki would always say after he caught his breath, "let me finish my one-liner."

"Not a chance," Mako would always reply as she helped him up from the mat. For a few seconds, they would stand within arm's reach, leaning on their hanbōs and trading tired grins. The way Itsuki would run his fingers through his tousled black hair made her feel weightless.

It was obvious they had chemistry. But Mako couldn't afford to let her emotions get in the way of her ambitions. She had to pass Ranger training. She had to become a jaeger pilot, not just to protect humanity, but to avenge her family. As much as she wanted to be with Itsuki, hoping for a relationship with someone who likely only saw her as a friend would be a waste of time.

It never occurred to her that Itsuki would return her feelings. Especially as his attitude toward her changed.

Just before the end of the first trimester, he got quieter around her. More nervous. Sometimes he'd jump when Mako would tap his shoulder. Even worse, he would intentionally let Mako win their matches by as much as three points.

"You're holding back," Mako told him angrily one day. "Why?"

Itsuki turned bright red. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You never have before. Why are you worried about that now?"

"I… nah, forget it." He jumped into a defensive stance, but Mako just threw down her hanbō.

"I'm not sparring with you until you tell me what's wrong."

"Mako, please—"

"Who said you should take it easy on me? Because I can take care of—"

"No, Mako, it's…" He sighed. "It's because I like you."

Relief and warmth flooded through her. _Well, if the feeling is mutual…_ "Good."

"'Good'?" Itsuki opened and shut his mouth a couple of times, like he couldn't decide what he was going to say. Mako just laughed.

"It's about time you asked me out," she clarified.

* * *

They wanted to wait until they passed officer training before going on a date. Fortunately, they had nothing to worry about. Both passed with flying colors, and their first date—on the bye week between their first and second trimesters—was as romantic as Mako had imagined. Transitioning from friends to lovers was almost effortless; considering they knew each other so well before, they had left all the awkwardness behind them.

It was all going well until the teasing began.

“Get a room, you two!” Itsuki's friends would snicker whenever they were together. Mako couldn't tell which she hated more: comments like that or the moaning noises his friends would make when their instructors were out of earshot. The gnawing feeling in her stomach made it all worse.

To Mako's relief, Itsuki would roll his eyes. But he soon started to get too affectionate. Mako found herself making excuses to duck out of a kiss or turn down a Netflix-and-chill night. Things were moving too fast.

But to her relief, Itsuki was the understanding type—after Mako confronted him, he reassured her he would never pressure her to do anything she didn't want to do.

And like that, all was right with the world again.

They clicked the way that Mako had never connected with Chuck. They trusted each other, and they agreed on the important things. And, as their pons training progressed, they realized they had yet another thing in common.

They were Drift Compatible.


	4. January 2025 - Hong Kong Shatterdome

“Four points to one,” Mako calls across the Kwoon. That match had only lasted a couple of minutes. A pity—Ranger Irvine had been the strongest of the five candidates. She hopes Sensei won't think less of her for not picking accurately. Surely he understands that practical and theoretical compatibility might not align.

The next candidate steps up to Becket, who once again lets his sparring partner make the first move. Clearly he's sizing the candidates up, analyzing their strengths before exploiting their weaknesses.

_He missed an opening there_, Mako finds herself thinking. The Shibata block would've been the ideal defense against Ranger Keyes' attack. Then Becket wouldn't have cost himself a point.

“Four points to two,” she announces at the end of the match.

“Okay, what?” Becket looks like he's struggling to keep calm. “You don't like them? I thought you selected them personally.”

“Excuse me?”

“Every time a match ends you make this little gesture.” He scrunches up his nose to punctuate the word. “Like you’re critical of their performance.”

Mako catches herself from making that face out of spite. “It’s not their performance, it’s yours. Your gambit.” Sensei stiffens next to her, but she plows on. “You could’ve taken all of them two moves earlier.”

A murmur ripples through the crowd on the other side of the Kwoon. _It’s not like they’re going to get the fight they’re expecting_, Mako thinks. Sensei says as much when he meets Becket with a glare and a few choice words of his own.

But Sensei's reason isn't true, and Mako calls him on it. _He's seen the results_, she thinks. _On paper, Becket and I are Drift Compatible. If only Sensei would let me prove it._

“Mako,” Sensei sighs, “we’ve talked about this. This is not only about a neural connection, it’s about a physical compatibility—"

“What’s the matter, Marshal?”

Both Mako and Sensei throw irritated looks at Becket. He doesn't flinch; he just leans against his bō staff and dons his signature smirk. Mako may not like it, but he's on her side.

Maybe she'll get her fighting chance, after all. Right now, all she wants to do is wipe that smug grin off his face.

“Don’t think your brightest can cut it in the ring with me?”

And with that, Sensei finally relents. “Go,” he tells Mako.

The meditation exercises she'd learned during pons training come in handy. Within a few deep breaths, all sounds but the blood rushing through her ears diminish. She even manages to drown out the crowd's whistling as she takes off her J-Tech blouse.

Becket isn't smiling now. _Good_, Mako thinks. _Now he's taking this match seriously_.

Unlike him, Mako has everything to lose. While evenly matched fighters don't always Drift successfully, sparring is one of the best ways to determine Drift Compatibility. Proving herself in the Kwoon would put Mako one step closer to piloting Lady Danger.

Plus, beating Becket would put him in his place. Accomplished Ranger or not, he would learn to think twice before opening his mouth again.

"Remember," Becket chides as Mako steps onto the mat, "it's a dialogue, not a fight. But I'm not going to dial down my moves."

Mako smirks. "Okay. Then neither will I."

The crowd _oohs_ behind her, and Mako holds her head up just a little bit higher. She steps out confidently to throw a strike into empty space, starting the conversation. Becket replies with a powerful defensive move.

He inches forward. She holds her position. Becket takes the bait; his staff brushes the fringe around her forehead as he lunges.

"One-zero."

The condescending look doesn't stay on his face for long. Mako repeats his attack, swinging her hanbō out and around until it brushes his forehead. Now he's staring in disbelief at the business end of her staff.

"One-one," Mako clarifies.

Becket moves quick to earn the next point, a jab at her exposed ribs. "Two-one. Concentrate."

_You gave the others a chance to reset_. It's time for him to pay.

Becket attacks again, but Mako parries each of his strikes. They advance back and forth until Mako's staff is once more just inches from Becket's forehead.

"Two-two," she says. "Better watch it."

Now Becket recalculates. His gaze sweeps over her again like their first encounter on the tarmac, and after a few seconds, he lunges. He forces Mako closer toward the edge of the mat—

_Not going to happen._

Just inches from out-of-bounds, Mako pushes him back with a flurry of attacks. Becket is so busy blocking that he's left himself vulnerable to Mako's favorite move. Planting her heel and using her staff as a lever, she tosses him forward. When he rights himself and meets Mako's hanbō, a grin lights up his face.

"Three-two," she says breathlessly.

Mako's petty attack hadn't escaped Sensei's notice. "_Miss Mori_," he calls across the Kwoon, "_more control_."

It's some time before Becket earns the next point, but he does so by mimicking Mako's earlier move. Now it's Mako's turn to find a bō staff waiting for her when she gets up. Unlike Becket, though, she wastes no time in launching herself into a defensive stance.

Tied at three points with one remaining, the dance begins.

Their physical conversation quickly turns to playful banter, with each only gaining the upper hand for a few seconds. They no longer limit themselves to the worn strip in the center of the Kwoon; the entire mat becomes fair game.

She'd been wrong about Becket. The man isn't rusty from five years of inactivity. He'd given her few opportunities to study and exploit his weaknesses. He had earned a reputation in his Jaeger Academy days as an unpredictable fighter. Yet somehow Mako had been able to anticipate his moves and counterattack.

They're evenly matched. They're—

_Let me finish my one-liner, would you?_

Mako falters as a familiar voice surfaces from her memories. And for a second, she finds herself standing at arm's length from a young man with tousled black hair and a toothy grin.

It had been years since she'd thought about Itsuki. Why is he invading her thoughts now, after all this time? She blinks back to the present just in time to see Becket moving in for his fourth point.

_Oh no, you don't._ She hooks her hanbō around his ankle and sends him tumbling backward onto the mat.

Murmurs ripple through the crowd, and Mako lifts her chin a little higher. She'd wiped the smirk off Becket's face and floored him in front of the entire Shatterdome. _Let's see what he thinks of that._

"Enough." Sensei's clipped tone calls Mako out of her thoughts. She releases Becket from her hold and bows as Sensei says, "I've seen what I needed to see."

"Me, too," Becket says breathlessly. He jumps to his feet and lays a gentle hand on her back. "She's my co-pilot."

Mako stares up in surprise at her sparring partner. Few others as cocky and as self-assured as Becket would accept defeat so gracefully, much less praise the person who'd beaten them. She'd underestimated him. It had been so long since she'd found anyone she'd felt remotely connected to.

Maybe he would be different from her other Drift partners.

She knows they're Drift Compatible. The data is on her side; she has Becket's EEG scans, Jaeger Academy records, and Kwoon footage to prove it. Even better, she has Becket himself speaking up for her.

Surely Sensei could see that, right?

_Itsuki once had your back_, says her small voice of reason. _And look what happened._

_No_, she responds. _Comparing the two is a mistake_. What had happened between Mako and Itsuki had happened years ago. Besides, he and Becket are two different people—hopefully different in the best way possible.

_So you're Drift Compatible_, the voice continues. _What comes next?_

_Drifting_, she realizes. Baring her soul to Becket. While Mako hopes it's less risky to reveal her deepest secrets to a stranger rather than someone she loves, she can't help but wonder if the inevitable judgement would be worse.

She doesn't dwell on that thought long. Sensei's next words crush her more than the weight of her past failure: "That's not going to work."


	5. November 2021 - Jaeger Academy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **HEADS UP:** Acephobic comments in this chapter.

"Here's the thing about Drift Compatibility," Mako overheard at lunch, in a rare moment of alone time while Itsuki talked to his friends. "On paper, yeah, it works. But then in practice…" The recruit blasted his hands apart. "It just blows up."

Mako felt sick. She was Drift Compatible with several recruits—and with Itsuki. They'd proven it in the Kwoon. How could their Drift fail?

_I'm not going to wash out_, she told herself. _I've worked too hard. Itsuki and I are Drift Compatible. We trust each other._

Deep down, she knew it wasn't as straightforward as that. She's been around enough seasoned pilots to learn that Drifting was jarring, even for siblings and close friends. She brought up her concerns to her Psych Analyst a few weeks before her first Drift simulation.

"That's normal," he reassured her. "There's no sensation similar to Drifting with someone. The simulators are designed to tone down the intensity of the mind-meld, but it can still be an overwhelming experience."

"Is that why so many cadets wash out?"

"That's part of it. Have you heard of the 'modesty reflex'? Cadets who are embarrassed by their memories or their partner's—typically sexual encounters—often try to shut out those memories. Attempting to control the flow of memories is just as risky as chasing the RABIT."

Mako felt the blood rush out of her face.

"Staying focused, staying in the Drift, is the best way to avoid feeling overwhelmed." Her Psych Analyst smiled sympathetically. "How about I teach you some meditation techniques?"

Mako meditated every night leading up to her simulated Drift with Itsuki. She also turned to her boyfriend for encouragement. Sometimes they would retreat to the study lounge to practice meditating, but most of the time they preferred to work out their anxiety in the Kwoon.

Sparring helped with the nerves, but it didn't ease her mind. Her Psych Analyst's warning about the modesty reflect plagued her.

Before she knew it, Mako was standing inside the simulator, wearing a cumbersome pons headset that smelled like dandruff and stale shampoo. The wires attached to the headset dangled above her like the tentacles of a monstrous creature she'd read about in Kaiju Science class.

_Stay focused_, she reminded herself. She took a deep breath—inhale, exhale.

"We're gonna take this slow." The tech's voice was muffled inside her headset. "We'll be stepping into the kiddie pool. No sense diving into the deep end just yet."

Mako glanced at Itsuki, standing just two feet to her right. He gave her a small smile and a thumbs up. All she could do was nod.

"Ready?" The tech asked. When she got confirmation, she said, "I'm going to count you down from ten."

Mako took slow, steady breaths to stop herself from shaking. As the tech reached "zero," Mako started feeling… weird. It was like she'd stood up too quick and the floor dropped out from underneath her. She wiggled her toes just to make sure she was still standing in the simulator. She was.

_Mako it's alright_

_Itsuki you're in my head_

_Yeah this feels weird but good right_

"How are we feeling, cadets?"

"Alright," Mako and Itsuki replied in unison.

_Woah that's—_

_Spooky I know_

The sensation intensified. Instead of just each other's immediate thoughts, murky scenes started flowing through their minds. Memories.

Mako watched her first sparring session with Chuck play out like a dream:

_Is that the best you got Mori_

_I'm just getting warmed up, hope you brought your A-game_

Just before their hanbōs met, the memory dissolved. Another took its place, this time with people and places Mako didn't recognize:

_Bye 'suki promise you'll keep in touch_

_I promise babe meeting you was the highlight of my summer_

The intense free-falling sensation concentrated in her stomach made Mako feel nauseous. It vanished once the next memory swept by:

_Mako this is Tamsin Sevier my co-pilot, she saved your life_

_Hello Sevier-san_

_It's nice to finally meet you Mako, I've heard so much about you from Stacks_

Recent memories began rushing by. Mako relived her first date with Itsuki, then again from Itsuki's perspective. It happened again with their first sparring session. They were Drifting. It was working.

But then Mako's modesty reflex kicked in.

_C'mon Itsuki when are you and Mako gonna do it_

_How many dates have you been on now_

_She said she wants to take things slow—_

_Does she not love you, why would she turn down sex_

Mako sucked in a breath. _No no no no—_

She felt the air leave her lungs as she tried to control the memories. It didn't work. An older, more bitter memory resurfaced:

_Knock it off Chuck I'm not in the mood_

_That's what you always say when we get all cuddly, I'm tired of you leading me on and then—_

_Since when have I led you on, I've never said I wanted to have sex with you_

_Y'know if you really loved me you'd—_

_Shut up Chuck it's not going to happen, it's never going to happen notwithyouoranyoneelse—_

Panic whites out the hazy gray memories in headspace. Nausea took its place. Before she yanked off her pons headset, Mako felt a surge of confusion, jealousy, and anger. But whose—?

"'Never going to happen,' Mako? Are you serious?"

_Please, no._ "Itsuki—"

"You were leading me on, weren't you?"

Mako felt lightheaded, dizzy. She fell to the floor. "Not ready," was all she could manage.

"I thought you liked me," Itsuki muttered. He sounded like he was about to cry.

"You know I do..."

He didn't face her as he stormed out of the simulator. The last thing Mako heard before passing out was, "Then what's wrong with you?"


	6. January 2025 - Hong Kong Shatterdome

Mako stares at the little red shoe in her hands, then at the empty doorway Sensei had just left through. "_Get ready_" rings in her ears, but fear keeps her rooted to the spot.

She'd waited years for her chance to pilot a jaeger. To have even an ounce of power over the fear that kept her timid for so long. Even now, she feels like the terrified 5-year-old limping through the streets of Tokyo, clutching her red shoe like an amulet. A kaiju had taken her parents and childhood away from her. It's time for those monsters to pay.

Now Sensei is giving her a chance to avenge her family, but how can she feel elated knowing she'll have to Drift with someone again? To share her secrets with another man who may not be as understanding as he seems?

She'd failed to Drift with four people at the Jaeger Academy. Each one had reacted the same way Itsuki had: with confusion, anger, or ridicule. Even now, she feels the sting of tears as Itsuki's words come to mind.

_No._ She jumps off that train of thought. _You're closer than ever to piloting Lady Danger. Don't let fear hold you back._

She needs a distraction. Meditation only carries her so far. Music is the boost she needs. Shibuya pop blares through her headphones as she stalks to the Drivesuit Room. As the familiar beat and upbeat vocals fill her mind, her churning stomach and racing thoughts settle down.

_Well_, she says to her lingering worries, _I've already heard whatever Becket might say._ After being so wounded by a trusted friend, she could take a few insensitive comments from a stranger—couldn't she?

Stepping into her drivesuit lifts her mood. It also keeps her grounded, keeping her focused on the discomfort of the armor and circuitry suit instead of the what-ifs of Drifting.

_I don't need Becket to understand me, or even like me_, she thinks as she steps into the Conn-Pod._ If we can fight together, that's all that matters._

After all, Chuck and Herc could do that. Although, part of her hopes that her dynamic with Becket would be better than the Hansens'.

Still, she can't help feeling a surge of pride as Becket grins at her from the right side of the Conn-Pod. "You look good," he says.

Mako manages a small smile in return. And then another thought occurs to her: What kind of baggage would Becket bring into the Drift?

Nausea washes over her as she steps up to the left rig. But it's too late to do anything about it. All she can do is breathe in and out, inhale and exhale, to keep her anxious thoughts at bay.

Never in a million years would she have anticipated what comes next.


	7. September 2023 - Anchorage Shatterdome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **HEADS UP:** More acephobic comments.

As if washing out of Ranger training hadn't been heartbreaking enough, the loneliness that followed reminded Mako of her failure daily.

In February 2022, she'd shut herself in her room after hearing that Ranger Sasaki had graduated with honors and been assigned to Panama City Shatterdome. The three other recruits she'd failed to Drift with had passed Ranger training, too.

With some reluctance, Mako re-enlisted at the Jaeger Academy that fall, this time on the J-Tech track. If she couldn't be the one slaying kaiju, she could at least be responsible for keeping Earth's greatest defenders on the battlefield. That thought brought her little comfort, though.

She devoted all of her free time to studying jaegers inside and out. It was a good thing she'd found her passion, because she hadn't found camaraderie in her fellow J-Tech hopefuls. She tried to convince herself that she didn't need friends. They would just be a distraction.

The key word being "tried."

Sensei never asked why Mako had washed out of Ranger training, and she never told him. Nevertheless, he praised her achievements and made sure she was getting challenged.

One such challenge came in a memo that crossed her desk a few months after she graduated.

"'The Mark III Restoration Project,'" she read.

Sensei nodded. "And I'd like you to oversee it."

They both knew that "oversee" was just bureaucrat speak. A few weeks later, Mako was surveying the scrap pile in Oblivion Bay herself, and by the end of September was helping the rest of the Lady Danger Upgrade Team sort through and take apart the wreckage.

With Lady Danger's repairs taking up most of her time, she couldn't dwell on her loneliness, much less the inevitability of the apocalypse sweeping through the Shatterdome. She stayed so focused, in fact, that she often found herself in an empty repair bay in the wee hours of the morning.

Well, almost empty.

The senior J-Tech assigned to delegate tasks got up to his elbows in jaeger engines as much as she did, and he often worked long into the night, too.

At first, she and Tendo merely acknowledged each other's presence; Mako always had her headphones on. Their only conversations were work-related: "These parts are ancient," "the initiation protocols are too slow," "how's the chain sword coming?"

It was only after they'd heard the PPDC was losing funding that they had a proper conversation.

"This blows," Tendo had told her after Sensei broke the news.

She just nodded. They'd just started restoring Lady Danger. Soon, Shatterdomes around the world would be shutting down—Anchorage included. Their hard work was going to waste. The world was giving up.

"I don't know about you, but I'm feeling something stronger than canteen beer," he muttered once the Marshal was out of earshot.

A few hours later, Mako was throwing back shots with Tendo and about half of the Lady Danger Upgrade Team. Not a single person in Tendo's tiny office was happy with the UN's decision. Some were more upset about leaving family or significant others behind to move to Hong Kong Shatterdome. Others were more furious that the world's politicians were giving up on the only fighting chance they had.

At some point, a drunken Tendo passed around his phone to show off photos of his family. His son looked just like his wife, all smiles and with a mop of curly dark hair.

"I miss 'em, a lot," Tendo muttered to Mako when the night had grown quiet. "Been workin' overtime tryin' to rebuild Lady here. I missed my boy's first steps."

"Will they be moving to Hong Kong with you?" Mako's thoughts seemed to move faster than her lips; her words came out slurred.

Tendo shook his head. "Duty calls," he grumbled, throwing back another shot. "You leavin' anyone behind?"

Mako avoided his gaze. She focused on the amber liquid swirling around in her glass. "No."

"Ah, so you're seein' someone in the 'Dome?"

"No." She grimaced. "There's no one."

"Really?" Tendo shook his head. "Anyone 'round here would be lucky to have you."

_Apparently not_, she thought bitterly. Whether it was from the alcohol or the exhaustion, she just couldn't ignore the hurtful comments any longer:

_Just admit it, Mori, you're scared._

_But everyone likes sex._

_I knew it, you were just leading Itsuki on. You don't really love him._

_You're not human._

_What's wrong with you?_

"Hey, Mako, what's wrong?"

She blinked and found herself standing, her shot glass in pieces on the floor and her hands clenched into fists. The room had gone quiet; five pairs of eyes were drilling holes into her already broken composure.

She slammed the door behind her as she fled.

"Mako, wait!"

She pressed the elevator call button. The chains rattled noisily as the elevator climbed. Maybe she could escape without confrontation.

Too late—just before the doors closed, Tendo stumbled through. She was trapped.

"Are you okay?"

"No," she muttered, before she could stop herself. Then the tears came. She inched back into a corner and slid down to the floor, curling into herself so she could muffle her sobs. No one should be seeing her like this. Especially not a stranger.

Tendo hit the EMERGENCY STOP button, and the elevator shuddered before grinding to a halt at eye level with Lady Danger's dark heart. He crouched down opposite Mako but left some space between them.

"Hey, hey, it's alright," he said, holding out a linen handkerchief. "When you're ready to talk, I'm here to listen."

_You've heard it all already_, the little voice in her head said. _What's the worst that could happen?_

She took Tendo's handkerchief. _Fine_, she replied.

Tendo looked impassive the whole time Mako vented about her four failed Drifts. How she'd felt so betrayed by Itsuki. How she was so tired of being different. How she just wanted a partner who understood her, every part of her, and loved her regardless of what kinds of feelings she could return.

When she told him about the insults her ex-boyfriends and ex-Drift partners had hurled at her, Tendo tensed. For a minute, he said nothing. Mako was so afraid he was going to throw more her way that she couldn't look him in the eye.

"So… you aren't sexually attracted to anyone?" He finally asked.

She took a shaky breath. "No, I guess not." _Here it comes..._

"Have you ever heard of asexuality?"

The look on her face must've been incredible, because his mouth twitched. "Yeah," he said, "I'm pretty sure I made the same face when someone told me I was bi."

"There's… there's a word for how I feel?" _I'm not just too serious, too scared, or too naive?_

"Oh, yeah. You're not the only one, either. I know a few people who've gone through what you've just told me. And Mako," he said, leaning forward, "there's nothing wrong with you."

Mako sobbed even harder.

"You don't have to label yourself if you don't want to," Tendo told her quietly after her sobs turned to sniffles. "At least you know you're not alone. And I'm sorry for upsetting you back there."

She actually managed a small smile. "Apology accepted."

"Thanks for trusting me by coming out."

At some point, the elevator rattled as it resumed its descent. It had only felt like a few minutes had passed since they got on, but the clock on Mako's phone said otherwise. Tendo escorted her to her room, though he wasn't exactly walking straight, either.

_There's a word for what I'm feeling_, Mako mused as she collapsed into bed. _Not broken. Not unlovable. Asexual._

For the first time since she'd washed out of the Jaeger Academy, she felt like she wasn't alone in the world. She finally had a friend she could trust with her secrets.

* * *

The more Mako thought back on the last few years and read up on asexuality, the more she felt at peace. That small voice that had told her she was different had been right. But in this case, different didn't mean flawed.

So what if she didn't get innuendo? So what if she didn't want sex—not now or ever? She could still form meaningful relationships, and she could find tenderness in a hug or in a compliment.

The world might be ending, but that didn't mean she couldn't benefit from a little self-discovery.

Opening up to Tendo had been the best spontaneous decision she'd ever made. After a semi-awkward conversation the next morning, Mako soon found out how similar they were.

They spent lunch and dinner in Lady Danger's repair bay, as usual, only now they talked about much more than work. Commiseration eventually led to conversations about what else they had in common: a love of Chinese street food, adoration for their jaeger, and hope that they could defy the odds and help cancel the apocalypse.

"Who's gonna pilot her?" Tendo mused one day as they watched J-Techs scramble over Lady Danger's heart, the last piece of the jaeger to be mended.

"Funny you should mention that." Mako told him how just that afternoon, Sensei had handed her a personnel file and told her to start researching compatible pilots. "Raleigh Becket."

Tendo grew quiet. "They found him?"

Mako nodded. "Sensei asked me to find him a suitable co-pilot."

She didn't mention that she felt she should be the one piloting her jaeger. It wasn't too late to complete Ranger training, and she knew Sensei would allow it. Taking her vengeance into the Drift, however…

"Is that a good idea? He's a good pilot and a good friend, don't get me wrong. But after all he went through…"

Mako had read the personnel file, of course. She knew the facts of the Knifehead attack.

What she didn't know—and what Tendo told her—was that they'd found Ranger Becket in a small fishing village off the coast of Anchorage, delirious from shock and covered in blood and third-degree drivesuit burns. Once they'd flown him back to the Shatterdome, he'd been confined to the med bay for weeks. When he was unconscious, he wouldn't stop muttering his brother's name. When he was conscious… Tendo left that part out.

"The old Raleigh is probably long gone," he mused. "I won't lie, though, it would be nice to see him again. Good for morale, too."

As Mako pored over Becket's personnel files and footage from his Jaeger Academy days, she wondered just how different the arrogant, reckless, and insubordinate man could be. 


	8. January 2025 - Hong Kong Shatterdome

"We're not in the simulator now, Mako," Becket reminds her unnecessarily, as if she were still a cadet. "In here, your entire life rushes through your head in a matter of nanoseconds. Remember, don't chase the RABIT."

She'd be sighing in frustration if she wasn't sick to her stomach just thinking about what might surface in the Drift. "I can handle my memories," she says, more to herself than to Becket.

"Okay. But can you handle mine?"

She glances at him. _We're about to find out._

Sensei's voice cuts through her anxious thoughts. "Engage the drop, Mr. Choi."

Mako stands up straight in her rig and closes her eyes, bracing herself for the drop—literally as Lady Danger's head descends from the prep deck to the rest of the jaeger's body, and figuratively as Tendo initiates the Neural Handshake a few minutes later.

Mako holds her breath as she plunges head-first into headspace:

_Hey Yance Dad's home and Mom made quiche for dinner, race you to the table_

_When I grow up Papa I want to make swords just like you_

_Looks like we've got a new tradition, two kaiju kills two Jägerbombs bottoms up bro_

_You look so grown-up in your kimono Mako, after the Shichi-Go-San festival how about we celebrate_

_I'm gonna build the best snow angel, the ground's freez—Yancy I can't feel Yan—hey Rals snowball fight_

_Is this snow I think I've seen snow once bef—Mama Papa where are y—Sensei's here it's going to be okay_  
  
_Woah who's this I've never seen anyone so regal and full of steel_

_Can I trust him or will our Drift fail like all the others_

Drifting is way more intense than the simulation had been. Memories are rushing by so fast that Mako feels like she's a swimmer caught in a hurricane. She can't drown in the Drift, can she?

Bitter memories crash over her now. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. She focuses on breathing to keep herself from panicking. So many memories are tainted with Itsuki. Suppressing the modesty reflex makes her feel like throwing up and passing out.

In a flash, those memories vanish. Unfamiliar ones take their place:

_We hitting the bars tonight Rals_

_Not feeling it_

_Aw what's the matter kid, all the ladies love you_

_Yeah yeah Yance, look you can go on all the dates you want but just leave me out of it_

_What about Naomi, would you want to date her_

_Nope we're not talking about this now…_

A familiar feeling crashes through the Drift. Sharing headspace makes it almost impossible to distinguish the source. Several memories fly by before Mako recognizes the gnawing feeling of repulsion, but she doesn't have time to dwell on what happened. A current of fear drags her under like a rough wave:

_Raleigh listen to me—_

The Neural Handshake breaks, painfully. Buried memories stir up in the Drift like sand at the bottom of the ocean.

Her vision goes white, then the world fades to black.

The thundering of a foghorn turns into a shrieking siren.

There's a ringing in Mako's ears. Her eyes sting. Her right foot hurts, like she's stepping on rocks in bare feet. Snow is falling from a gray sky, but it's not cold enough for—

_Mama, Papa!_ The words are out of her mouth before she realizes what's going on. Something big rumbles behind her and jostles the street she's standing on. She turns around and screams—

_Mako!_

* * *

Mako comes to minutes later. She's no longer 5 years old standing in the broken streets of Tokyo. She's 21 years old lying on the floor of a jaeger's Conn-Pod. Nausea washes over her as she realizes she's failed yet another Drift.

She'll never pilot Lady Danger. She'll never avenge her family. Becket's kind words do little to reassure her. She wants to cry as she's removed from Lady Danger's Conn-Pod and stripped of her armor.

Her feet may have carried her to Sensei's office, but her mind is still in headspace, replaying her mistakes over and over and over.

Chuck, of course, would get involved.

It had never mattered, he'd told her once, that he was the best pilot in the PPDC. Chuck's young age made him the target of scrutiny from so many veteran pilots. Once upon a time, she'd felt sorry for him. Now, she's livid. He's picked the worst time to assert his dominance.

Mako isn't surprised Chuck questions Becket's ability as a Ranger. But then he drags Becket's late brother into it.

Maybe she's still so raw from her first Drift that the insult wounds her, too, or maybe she's just had it with Chuck's cocky attitude. Either way, she finds herself stepping between Chuck and Becket and a warning—"stop it, now"—rolling off her tongue.

Becket taps her shoulder lightly. His small head shake says _he's not worth a fight._

"Yeah, that's right." Chuck smirks at Becket. "Just hold back your little girlfriend."

Blood rushes to her head and drowns out Chuck's next words. A fist meets his face a second later. By the time she'd registered that Becket had decked Chuck right in front of the Marshal's office, she's sitting before her Sensei with a sob rising in her throat. Now she has other things on her mind:_ Sensei is grounding me._

Mako rises out of her seat. "Permission to be dismissed, sir?"

She barely hears Sensei say, "permission granted, Miss Mori." _Failure, failure, failure_ drowns out all other thoughts.

* * *

All eyes turn to Mako in the mess hall. All she wants is to be left alone. Her thoughts are torturing her enough; why does everyone else have to pass judgement on her, too?

She catches Becket's eye by accident, and to her dismay he stalks toward her. In the chaos of chasing the RABIT, she'd forgotten that she'd laid her soul bare to this stranger. Surely he felt Mako's awkwardness and fear and figured out that she's asexual. Is he going to say she's broken, like all the others had?

Her panic barely wins out over her resignation. She bolts out of the mess hall with her tray in hand. But Becket follows her all the way to Lady Danger's repair bay.

"Can I?" He asks, motioning to the space next to Mako.

Reluctantly, she nods. Becket joins her in sitting at the edge of the landing.

They chow down in silence. Mako takes her time eating dinner, hoping to avoid the awkward conversation for as long as possible. At least Becket starts off with small talk.

"First Drifts are rough," he says. "I should've warned you. 'Cause you weren't just tapping into my memories, you were tapping into my brother's, too."

Mako remembers the Knifehead attack like she'd experienced it herself. She had, in a way. She'd seen it from Becket's perspective as well as his brother's. She'd felt Yancy's pain, fear, and helplessness as he was ripped out of the Conn-Pod and tossed into the stormy sea.

"When you're in someone's head for so long," Becket muses, "the hardest part to deal with is the silence. To let someone else in, to really connect, you've got to trust them." He gives her a small smile. "And today the Drift was strong."

Mako had finished her dinner, and the conversation had found a lull. In the few minutes Becket had been talking, she'd had time to reflect on their Drift—not just their RABIT chases, but on some of their other memories. That conversation with his brother comes to mind…

A golden glow distracts Mako. "Her heart," she says, turning to her jaeger. "When's the last time you saw it?"

"Not in a long time." The way Becket sits back to marvel at the mech warms Mako's heart. She'd been so wrong about him.

Maybe she'd been wrong about a lot of things.

_You can go on all the dates you want_, Becket had said in that memory. _Just leave me out of it._

She had recognized the disinterest in his voice, along with the gnawing sensation he'd felt. How similar are they?

"There's something I want to ask you." Mako keeps her eyes fixed on the golden glow of Lady Danger's heart. "About what I saw in the Drift."

"Yeah?" Becket asks casually, but Mako could've sworn she'd seen him tense.

"How do you feel about relationships? The only reason I'm asking," she says quickly, "is because we seem to have similar experiences."

"You're different, too, huh?"

She shifts her gaze from her jaeger to Becket, who's still staring at Lady Danger. Mako doesn't reply.

"Everyone told me I was a late bloomer," he says. "'You'll find a girl and settle down someday,' my mom always said. But as I got older, I realized I wasn't like everyone else."

When Mako still doesn't answer, he soldiers on. "I never got romance. I never liked girls—or guys—that way. It was only after I Drifted with Yancy that I realized what romantic attraction felt like. Yancy had been in my head, so he understood why I wasn't into dating—sort of."

He chuckles to himself, like he's remembering the moment she'd seen just hours ago in the Drift. Then he gets quiet. "After Knifehead… it was pretty lonely."

Silence settles between them.

"I thought I was the only one," Mako says after a minute.

Becket finally looks at her. "Me, too. I've got Tendo to thank. He helped me discover I was aromantic—what's so funny?"

Mako can't hide her grin. "That shouldn't surprise me. He seems like the right person to have a breakdown in front of. He helped me figure out I'm asexual."

"No wonder we're Drift Compatible." His smirk—which doesn't annoy Mako as much now—fades as he grows serious again. "I never thought I'd find someone like you."

Mako nods. Although she might never Drift with Becket again, at least she knows Drifting with him wasn't a waste of time. She'd finally found someone who gets her. Not just sympathizes, like Tendo, but actually understands what she's gone through.

It had taken until the end of the world for her and Becket to meet, but she'd take days with a confidante over a lifetime of loneliness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I pulled from the Pacific Rim novel at the beginning of this chapter. Some of those lines were too good not to include or reference.


	9. October 2024 - Hong Kong Shatterdome

The end of the world had a deadline: January 2025. At least that's what K-Science predicted. The Breach had been puking out kaiju every three months for a while now. The attacks were exponential. It was only a matter of time before there'd be a kaiju attacking the Pacific Rim every eight hours.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the world had given up. The PPDC had been defunded. Shatterdomes across the world would be shutting down in a matter of months: Panama City, Vladivostok, Los Angeles, Sydney.

Hooking up became the go-to coping mechanism at the world's last Shatterdome.

Much to Mako's frustration, Shatterdome quarters weren't totally soundproof. She'd misplaced her headphones in the move from Anchorage to Hong Kong. At least she had Tendo to commiserate with on those sleepless nights.

"Just once I'd like to get a good night's sleep," Mako called across the empty mess hall. "Not hear my neighbors going at it."

Tendo smirked into his steaming mug. "Wouldn't we all."

Mako followed his lead and poured herself a cup of tea. "How's Alison?" She asked as she sank into the seat across from him.

"Good, all things considered." Tendo took a long sip and grimaced. Maybe there was something a little stronger than just tea or coffee in his mug. "I wish she could be here. The world's ending—can't I spend these last few months surrounded by my family?"

Mako nodded sympathetically. Who wouldn't want to die surrounded by their loved ones? Sensei was too caught up in Operation Pitfall planning to be much more than a fixed point. And Jake, well… Mako hadn't heard from him in months.

Tendo must have picked up on her train of thought. "Sorry," he mumbled. "It's late, I'm tired, and I'm lonely."

"I know the feeling," Mako said. Was it a waste of time to hope she'd find someone to spend these last few months with? To form a meaningful relationship in the face of the world's end?

"Onto a less depressing subject, then." Tendo shoved his empty mug aside and leaned forward over the table. "How's the search for Raleigh's co-pilot coming?"

Mako shook her head. "I've found six good candidates."

"That sounds like good news—what's the problem?"

"Sensei removed my name from the list of finalists."

Tendo returned her frustrated look. "Are you Drift Compatible?"

"In theory, yes."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Our EEG scans are similar, and our fighting styles are complementary," she clarified. "But I've told you about all my failed Drifts. Even if Sensei did give me a chance, I don't know how compatible we'd actually be."

"Mako." Tendo waited to speak until she looked him in the eye. "First of all, Raleigh is a great guy. I think he'll be more understanding than you think."

He smirked, like he knew something she didn't. "Second, Pentecost is a good leader and an even better father. He'll make the right call when the time comes."

She gave him a small smile. "You always know how to cheer me up."

They sat in silence for several minutes, just enjoying the peace and quiet.

"I'm having trouble staying awake," Mako said after yawning for what must have been the twentieth time. "I'm off to bed. Here's hoping my neighbors have stopped their, uh, nightly activities."

"Right behind you," Tendo said, stifling a yawn of his own. "Remind me to ask the Kaidonovskys for ear plugs. I'm sure they know a guy."

Mako couldn't sleep that night, though not because of her noisy neighbors. That small voice in her head kept bringing up the same doubts: _What if Sensei says no, and you'll never get to step into a jaeger? But what if he says yes, and you still fail to Drift with Ranger Becket?_

_Look_, she told it, _I don't know. It's late, and Tendo and I have to run tests first thing in the morning. Maybe you're right, and I'll fail this Drift like all the others. But only time will tell._


	10. January 2025 - Hong Kong Shatterdome

Facing certain death is easier to do with a partner. Surprisingly, the ride is exhilarating. After killing Leatherback in spectacular fashion—Raleigh had delivered a killer one-liner after lighting up the kaiju with plasma blasts—Mako allows herself a few seconds to appreciate the moment.

She finds peace after killing Otachi. Raleigh had let her take the lead, using the sword she'd forged to avenge her family. In the split-second after slicing through Otachi's hide, she realizes she got justice for more than just her parents. It had been for Tam. For the Weis and Kaidonovskys. Even for Yancy.  
  
Canceling the apocalypse doesn't come without heart-wrenching moments, though. Fear surges through the Drift as Lady Danger free-falls through the stratosphere. Agony as Scunner and Raiju tear at the jaeger deep beneath the Pacific. Despair as Sensei and Chuck choke out their goodbyes over the comm.

The kaiju are relentless. Slattern had somehow managed to survive the blast, and it isn't going back to the Anteverse without a fight. The kaiju about rips apart Lady Danger in its final struggle, sending shockwaves of pain through Raleigh's and Mako's drivesuits.

Just when Mako thinks it can't get worse, she starts feeling dizzy. She can't catch her breath. The kaiju speared by her chain sword is wriggling out of her grasp. _Dying_, her mind screams.

Raleigh’s words are ringing in her ears as she wakes up, alone on a calm sea under cerulean skies: _I can finish this alone. All I have to do is fall. Anyone can fall._

A splash cuts through her panic. Without thinking, she plunges into the frigid Pacific Ocean toward the escape pod, ignoring the sting of salt water on her fresh drivesuit burns and the heaviness of her water-logged armor. _Raleigh, Raleigh, Raleigh_, she thinks with every stroke.

He's not breathing. She lifts him out of his escape pod, and he falls clumsily against her shoulder. She sobs his name into his hair and clings to him like a life preserver.

He can't be dead. They just found each other.

A soft whisper reaches her ears before a heartbeat. Elation and relief wash over both of them. _He's alive. We're both alive. We're going to be okay._

The world falls away as Mako and Raleigh hold tight to each other.

* * *

**SIX MONTHS LATER**

"What comes next?"

"Hm?" Mako glances down from the jaeger schematics in her hands to find Raleigh's piercing blue eyes staring up at her.

"You know that conversation we started but never finished? About the future?"

_You were right, you didn't have very good timing. _"I remember," she chuckles.

"Can we have that now?"

Mako sets the schematics aside and Raleigh sits up on the bed, turning around to face her. Drifting had made it so much easier to communicate without words, even six months later. But there are some things they just can't leave unspoken. Mako figures this conversation is about to be one of them.

"You know I love you, right?" He asks.

She grins. "So you tell me. Every day. No, don't give me that look, it's sweet."

His sheepish smile fades, but only slightly. "I know we've got our differences. Especially when it comes to sex and romance. But you grabbed my attention the moment I saw you. You've seen me at my worst, and you're still here."

Mako squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Raleigh takes a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is… I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else."

Mako leans forward, and Raleigh rests his forehead against hers. It's been their favorite form of affection since reuniting on the ocean's surface.

"And you know I love you, Raleigh. You understand me better than anyone else. What's this future you have in mind?"

"Well, what if we got married? For the tax benefits," he quickly clarifies. "And 'cause, well, the PPDC doesn't ship married couples off to different Shatterdomes."

Now that the world had gotten its act together, the PPDC is fully funded again. The jaeger factories had reopened an hour after the Operation Pitfall press conference. Hong Kong Shatterdome would no longer be Earth's last defense.

"The quarters are a little bigger, too," Mako adds.

"So you'll marry me?" Raleigh tears up when Mako nods. "Right, I'm thinking we should just have a small wedding. Only a few friends."

"Tendo is the first person we're inviting."

"Oh, absolutely." Raleigh grins. "And we can't forget Alison. Maybe Herc can officiate."

"We'll need wedding rings," Mako says. "Can we get 'Drift Compatible' engraved on the inside?"

"That's perfect." His grin fades, and she senses a serious question coming. "How do you feel about kids—or pets? I've always wanted a Golden Retriever, but a cat wouldn't be bad, either."

Mako wrinkles her nose. "We'd need a house first, don't you think?"

"Of course. So wedding, house, then kids or pets. I guess we can decide on those later. What do you think?"

She pulls Raleigh into a hug. "Then it's settled."

She'd never seen him smile so wide. After separating themselves from one of their longest hugs to date, Raleigh settles back onto the bed and rests his head in Mako's lap. He dozes off a few minutes later as Mako plays with his hair.

Years ago, this is not where she would've seen herself. Like many kids her age, she wanted to marry Prince Charming and live happily ever in a castle. As she got older, those goals became slightly more realistic: Charming could be an engineer or Kwoon fightmaster, and the castle could be a little cottage in the countryside. In any scenario, she'd be head-over-heels in love.

Washing out of the Jaeger Academy and watching the world end had changed all that. Now…

The perfect relationship, she realizes, isn't always filled with grand romantic gestures. It's all about being comfortable in each other's silences, and being supporting through the good and bad.

She smiles down at her sleeping co-pilot.

_No_, she thinks as she turns back to her jaeger schematics, _this is infinitely better than anything I could have imagined._


End file.
